


The Rabbit Hutch

by TallyDubh



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Darcy Lewis, Alpha Thor, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Beta Steve Rogers, Depression, Dragon AU, Dragon!Melinda, F/M, M/M, Multi, Not All Tags Apply to All Chapters, Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Jane Foster, PTSD, Secret Marriage, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Soulmate AU, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Triggers, dogtags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-07-15 03:48:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7206098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallyDubh/pseuds/TallyDubh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of one-shots and drabbles that I've written and posted on Tumblr. Please note the triggers in the tags, as well as note that not all the tags apply to all of the chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Index of Drabbles

**Author's Note:**

> A great big thank you to all of my Beta's. These wouldn't be nearly as good without your help!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Find me on Tumblr here: http://taleasedubh.tumblr.com/

Chapter 1) Stucky in The Plane - Steve/Bucky if they were both on the Valkerye when it crashed at the end of TFA.

Chapter 2) Dragon Good, Knight Bad - Don’t mess with a dragon’s horde, certainly don’t mess with Melinda May’s Horde. That’s just stupid and asking for an ass kicking.

Chapter 3) I'll be My Mom's Hero - Steve gets sorted into his house and reflects on what he thinks of the other houses. (Harry Potter Setting)

Chapter 4) You Can't Tell Someone They Love You - Bucky remembers why Steve has two rings on his dog-tag chain.

Chapter 5) The Long Game - An examination of Bucky, Steve and Sam's soul marks. How they got them and what they mean to each of them. (My own take on soulmarks)


	2. Stucky in The Plane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if Bucky never fell from that train? What if, instead he was on the plane with Steve when it crashed? What if they were both still alive when S.H.I.E.L.D. found it?

Steve came to slowly, the noises penetrating his fogged mind first, wind through an open window, a radio signal that was clearer than he’d ever heard it. It took more effort than he thought it should to peel his eyes open, and it took a moment for his vision to clear. Instantly he felt on edge, there was something not right about where he was. Sitting up he looked around and felt that itch set up between his shoulder blades. Yep, something very very wrong. Then the details started to filter in. The air was too clean for him to be in New York, the sounds were too quiet. The light didn’t flicker slightly, and he didn’t hear the stuttering hum of the electricity through the walls, it was steady, never wavering. That’s when he noticed what he was wearing. If he had been in the hospital, they would not have laced boots onto his feet, and the white undershirt he had on was too soft, hadn’t been washed with starch like it should have been. But what really convinced him that something was seriously wrong was the game coming over the radio. He knew this game, had been in the nosebleed seats next to Bucky, had watched it through the cracked binoculars they’d borrowed from their upstairs neighbor for the day. Once he knew that something was wrong, he realized that there was something missing from the room that should have been there. ‘Where’s Bucky?’ Steve’s thoughts were derailed when the door opened and a nurse stepped into the room. 

A quick glance was enough to know that this woman wasn’t a nurse. Her hair was too perfect, her makeup wasn’t smudged, she didn’t reek of disinfectant, and the heel of her shoes were too high. Steve knew what a nurse looked like, and this wasn’t one. She bore a striking resemblance to Peggy actually, not only in her coloring but the way she held herself, like she knew how to throw a punch. They, whoever they were, were expecting her to put him at ease, or distract him from all the wrongness of the situation. Standing slowly, he ignored her words and took a half step toward her. 

“You’re not a nurse, I was in the crowd when this game was played, and there’s no way that Bucky wouldn’t be at my bedside, no matter how hurt he was. So save your lie and tell me where the fuck I am, and where the fuck Bucky is,” Steve snarled, feeling the tension in his body ratchet up a degree or two when the woman tried to tell him to calm down. “Don’t fuckin’ tell me to calm down, tell me where the fuck my husband is!” Steve cried, advancing on the woman. Before he’d taken two steps the door behind her burst open and three men in black gear poured into the room. The fight that followed was expected, and it was obvious that whoever had him wasn’t aware of just how fast or how strong he really was, because it was laughably easy for him to escape and evade. 

It wasn’t until he was surrounded by large black cars that he stopped to listen to what one of them had to say, but none of it mattered to him, because the door of one of the other cars opened and Bucky slid out, shaking his head. 

“Stand down, Punk. These are the good guys!” Steve relaxed almost instantly, just seeing Bucky was relatively safe was enough to have him take the first real breath he’d taken since he’d woken up in that damned room. Striding across the pavement, completely ignoring everyone around them, Steve wrapped Bucky up in his arms and sighed. Everything would be okay now, even if his husband’s left sleeve was empty from just above the elbow. It wasn’t until later that he found out that there was some kind of complication during the thawing that required them to amputate his arm. 

Three weeks later, Bucky had a high tech prosthetic courtesy of Tony Stark, an incredible sniper rifle and a new uniform when aliens rained down from the heavens. Though he laughed himself blue when Steve stepped out of the locker room in the new uniform S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided him. 

“Laugh it up, jerk. You’re lucky I was able to talk them out of your uniform, cause it was even worse than this one. Guh, it was worse than that stupid thing they had me wearing on stage,” Bucky snickered a little more, but was able to catch his breath just long enough to kiss Steve in thanks. 

 


	3. Dragon Good, Knight Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don’t mess with a dragon’s horde, certainly don’t mess with Melinda May’s Horde. That’s just stupid and asking for an ass kicking.

Melinda could not believe she was in this situation. She’d thought that adding Peter to her Dragon Horde after the Avengers had managed to royally fuck everything up would be a good thing. That the child would cool his jets, maybe focus on school instead of crime fighting, with the threat of an angry dragon breathing down his neck. But… but of fucking course it hadn’t. Of course the little shit was out fighting Green Goblin, on a school night no less, and had gotten himself captured. At least he’d been smart enough to activate the pendant she’d given to him. 

Which was how Melinda found herself clinging to the side of the Oscorp Tower in New York, her sharp claws digging chunks out of the brickwork. The crunch of the baked clay was satisfying in a petty way, but it didn’t stop her from flexing her claws a little, just to make the holes bigger. 

The wind whipped around her, and she flattened her long body against the building a little tighter. She hated waiting, but it would be too dangerous to enter the room where they were holding Peter with Green Goblin and all of his henchmen in there with the child. If it had been only one or two in there with the Goblin, she would have risked it. She knew her limits and abilities after all. But there were a dozen men in that room, all with automatic weapons trained on  _ her  _ human. 

Steam curled out of her nostrils in tendrils, only to be snatched away by the howling wind.  _ ‘What is wrong with people? Who points a gun at a fifteen year old?’  _ Melinda thought, even as she cocked her head far enough over to peer into the room once more. 

Just in time to watch Goblin and ten of his henchmen leave the room. Leaving only two morons to guard the boy. Needle sharp teeth glinted in the city lights as scaled lips pulled back in a dragon’s grin. Once the door was firmly locked, Melinda removed the claws of one paw from the brick and clicked the window with them. 

“What was that?” Tweedledee asked, his gun jumping up to point at the window. Melinda tucked herself out of sight and waited. Tweedledee came to the window, pressed his hand and face to it, trying to see past the glare of the lights to what was out there. After a moment, he shrugged and returned to his side of the door. 

Melinda watched Peter this time, as she clicked on the window again , this time just a little bit louder. He was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, his mask lay in a crumpled pile on the floor at his feet. The clicking of her claws caused him to flinch just slightly, before a grin spread across his face. 

“You’re in trouble now,” was all he said. Tweedledum took a step forward and slammed the butt of his rifle into Peter’s face. Melinda could hear the snap of his nose even over the wind. More steam curled out of her nose, even as a snarl rumbled her thin chest. This time she didn’t tap on the glass, this time she set her claws over her head and slowly scraped them down the glass. 

Inside the room Tweedledee and Tweedledum exchanged startled looks, and Peter cringed at the grating noise. It was Tweedledum who came to the window this time, and Melinda didn’t bother to hide. 

Huh? Who knew a man that big could scream like that? But then again, it’s not every day you look out a window on the sixtieth floor and see a dragon looking back at you. The triple crack of the rifle in his hands firing echoed inside the room for only a second before the crash of the glass drowned it out. 

Melinda spared a second to hope that no one was down on the street at this hour, before she launched herself off the wall of the building and onto the face of the asshole who’d dared to hurt  _ her human. _ It didn’t matter that in this form she only weighed ten pounds, it didn’t matter that she was smaller than the average housecat. Because she was a dragon, she was armed with wickedly curved talons, needle sharp teeth by the dozen, and the ability to breath fire at these morons. She used all of those weapons on Tweedledum, cackling high as his stupid mustache caught fire and he started slapping at the flame. 

“What the fuck is that!?” Tweedledee attempted to join the fight, only to have Tweedledum’s wildly flailing arm catch him in the chin. One idiot down, Melinda returned her focus to the other, only to find that he’d managed to take himself out as well. This time by running head first into a low shelf on the wall. 

Melinda looked around her one last time before shifting back to her human form. It always felt odd, being in this form, almost like her skin was too small. She didn’t have the time to adjust though, cause the sound of the fight would surely draw someone’s attention. Working as quickly as she could, she propped both of the morons against the closed door, hoping their combined weight would slow pursuers down. She blinked and rolled her eyes when she noticed that one of the henchmen’s name tags read ‘Knight’. Because of course it would. 

“May? I’m so sorry. They caught me by surprise! I swear!” Melinda turned to look at the child and sighed. He was a sight, that was for sure. Blood covering the lower half of his face from his broken nose, which thankfully didn’t need to be set, because it was already healing. She could feel the tug of magic from her to him, speeding the process. 

“You are lucky we were already in New York.” It didn’t take but a second to release him from the ropes binding him to the chair. And by the time anyone was able to force the door open she and Peter were swinging back toward Queens. Peter knew he was in for a major lecture when they got back to his place, but for now he took delight in the hot weight of his adoptive aunt on his back. He didn’t even mind that he would have to sew up the holes her claws were making in his suit. 


	4. I'll be my mom's hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gets sorted into his house.

11 year old Steven Rogers stood trembling as he watched the battered old hat sort the other First Years. He’d heard enough, from his mother, from his best friend, from his neighbor about the Houses to know which ones he didn’t want to be a part of. And it wasn’t just because Bucky was in Hufflepuff. 

The Ravenclaws were the smart ones, the ones who always created some revolutionary spell, or cured some obscure disease. Not him, that was for sure. He’d been a late bloomer, his mother worried he’d end up a Squib. He’d gotten into another fight, and the bruises had healed completely within a few hours. He’d gotten his letter a week later. 

The Slytherin were bullies. Not all of them, he knew that. But enough of them were power hungry, and conniving that Steve didn’t want to spend the next 7 years surrounded by them. 

The Gryffindor’s were heroes. That’s all anyone talked about when they talked about the Gryffindor’s. All the heroes who’d been in the house, how brave they all were. Steve didn’t feel brave, with his knobbly knees knocking together with nerves under his robes. He didn’t feel brave with the cold sweat making the hair on the back of his neck sticky and itchy. He didn’t feel brave with his mother’s voice in his ear, begging him not to be a hero, to let others deal with the bullies. ‘You’re all I have.’ Steve had decided on the train that he’d be only one person’s hero from now on, and that was his mother’s. 

But Hufflepuffs, they were what Steve strived to be. Loyal and determined; not afraid to get his hands dirty. He wasn’t the type of person to hold onto a grudge or anger, and was willing to bend over backwards to help the people he deemed important in his life. He knew in his bones that Hufflepuff was where he would be happiest. 

The Professor called him forward, and he sat on the stool. The hat was put on his head and he scrunched his eyes closed and begged. He wasn’t smart, he wasn’t sly, and he wouldn’t be a hero if that’s what his mother wanted. 

“HUFFLEPUFF!” Steve sighed and nearly melted onto the floor when the hat didn’t bother to argue with him. Steve stood on wobbly legs and made his way toward the jumping, screaming brunette at the table to the left. Bucky was standing on the bench and his voice rose above all the others cheering for him. Bucky’s strong hand thumping him on his back, the other ruffling his hair, settled the nerves in Steve’s stomach and he was able to watch the rest of the first years be sorted with a grin on his face.


	5. You Can't Tell Someone They Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky remembers why Steve has two rings on his dog-tag chain.

Steve wears two rings on the set of dog tags around his neck. Don’t ask him about them, he won’t answer and he’ll give you his disappointed-face. When Bucky comes home it takes a long time for him to remember that night in the dark church in France. But when he does he goes searching for Steve. He finds him sprawled out on the sofa in the communal living room. It’s movie night apparently, but Bucky doesn’t care. He just climbs over the back of the couch and settles himself firmly into Steve’s lap. No, his fingers aren’t shaking, thank you very much. 

It takes a few moments of fumbling before he can get the dog tags open, but the rings slide off the chain easy as nothing. They’re shiny steel, or what looks like steel. A gift from Howard, who’d stood with James as his witness. The night of privacy to consummate their union had been Peggy’s gift, that and being allowed to use her in the propaganda films to keep people from seeing him and Steve. She’d worn her uniform when she’d stood as Steve’s witness. 

The rings shine in the palm of his right hand in the low light and he can feel several pairs of eyes burning holes in his back. But he ignores them, because he really doesn’t give a flying fuck anymore. 

“Buch?” Steve whispers, holding as still as he can, not wanting to spook Bucky. Gun metal grey eyes meet his for a half a moment then flicked back down to the rings in his palm.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Bucky murmured, not willing to meet Steve’s eyes, because what if he doesn’t feel the same any more. And damn it, no! He’s not going to cry, fuck you very much! The mountain of flesh under him ripples as Steve sighs, and thumps the back of his head against the couch. 

“It’s rude to tell someone how they feel, Buch. Both our ma’s would have rolled over in their graves had I just blurted it out from the beginning,” Steve muttered, not able to look at the man straddling his thighs. Right up until cool metal fingers wrap around his right wrist and tug. Before he knows it he doesn’t feel naked anymore, because that thin band of metal is back where it belongs, wrapped around the middle finger of his right hand. 

“You’re a punk,” Bucky breathes it across Steve’s lips a second before he seals them together. And it’s not the kiss that makes Steve moan, it’s that stripe of cold metal against his cheek surrounded by the burning hot hand of his husband. An indignant squawk from Tony reminds Steve that the rest of the team are in the room and he rises to his feet, heading out of the room, Bucky wrapped around him like an octopus, not wanting to let him go. It’s Nat who lifts the set of forgotten dog tags into the light from the kitchen and reads them. One tag reads Rogers, Steven Grant, but it’s the other that makes her smile. Rogers, James Buchanan is stamped into the metal. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you confused about the placement of the rings, I did it that way because the marriage was a secret.


	6. The Long Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Consider this:
> 
> A soulmate au where you have no marks until after you’ve met them. The first time you touch each other a tattoo blooms on your right forearm with an itchy, tingly sensation. Sometimes it speaks to you as a person, sometimes it speaks of your mate, others the relationship you’ll have. If you have more than one mate only part of the design will fill in, to finish when you’ve met the other/s. The design cannot be removed, the skin never scars and won’t hold ink. If you’ve lost your arm (army vets and the like), the design appears on your shoulder or chest, and it’ll move if the arm is lost after. If your mate dies the design will fade into scar tissue.

Steve had had the outline of a nautical compass on his forearm since he was 8 and Bucky had pulled him away from a fight with Derek O'Connor. Bucky’s sweeping sheet music had been missing several notes and had wrapped around his arm so many times it ended on his chest. 

Steve had been more than confused to find his compass still a vibrant black when he woke from the ice, had thought the serum was stopping it from fading away. Finding his other mate, Sam, had been bittersweet, as had watching the rest of his compass fill in. Thick black lines crawled down Sam’s arm from his shoulder to his wrist. When Steve found out about the Falcon program the wing had made sense.

Several days later, standing on the dam, Sam had shown Steve his completed mark. Had explained that it had filled in after he’d knocked Bucky off of him. Steve had read the lyrics to him, lyrics to a song that Sam recognized. Sam explained to him it was a prayer to God requesting wings to stop an old lover from marrying the wrong man. Steve found that in their situation, that it was fitting. And when Sam had him listen to Gaelic Storm’s ‘Human to a God’ they’d both cried. They swore they wouldn’t stop until they found their third.

It wasn't until Bucky had awoken from the shit show that Zemo had created that he'd realized who'd completed his mark. And the only emotion he'd felt in that moment was fear. He had so much blood on his hands, so many dead faces in his mind, how could someone new love the man he’d become? Only after listening to the song that he'd given to Sam had he calmed. Just the fact that Sam had believed the song, that he'd have flown around the globe on borrowed wings to find him, had helped Bucky accept everything. 

Bucky's own song had frightened Sam and Steve. 'For You' by Keith Urban was a scary song when applied to their soulmate. But it had spoken to Bucky about the man that he'd been before HYDRA. About the man who had screamed and shouted at his captives until they'd taken him to Zola. A man who would rather see himself dead than know that another one of his men would be taken away and never returned. 

It also amazed them all that Bucky had the sheet music to a song that wouldn’t be released for some 86 years. It reminded them all that the Universe certainly had a plan, one that no one could predict.


End file.
